rights:/rʌɪts/ (n) 1. that which is morally correct, just, or honourable.
2. a moral or legal entitlement to have or do something.
(v) 1. restore to a normal or upright position.
2. restore to a normal or correct state.

rites:/rʌɪts/ (n) 1. a religious or other solemn ceremony or act.
2. a body of customary observances characteristic of a Church or a part of it.
3. a social custom, practice, or conventional act.

riots:ˈrʌɪəts/ (n) 1. a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd
2. an impressively large or varied display of something.
3. (informal) a highly amusing or entertaining person or thing.
(v) 1. take part in a violent public disturbance.

ain’t i woman

"That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen them most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?"

a poem | 555 so far

the poem below was written in 2009 when Unicef reported that so far 555 of the thousands up thousands of child soldiers out there had been turned over to Unicef so that they may be rehabilitated.

with so much ill in the world, one wonders if it will every end. how will it end? how when the adult visit such unimaginable traumas on children. how will this cycle of violence be shut down? i don’t have answers…

555… so far

they came
in the night
in the fire
in the pain
in the blood
ripped apart
left ashes and
bones and
pieces of bitter flesh

the shouting
thick fingers connecting
to tiny face
the piercing
shot up neophyte veins
the raping of
green flesh brutal
casualties
a means to an end

555 so far
yea high, no bigger
that the steal
ravaged innocence
rages in the frontlines
futures robbed
blood cycles marred
555 so far
free
hundred thousands
more still rage

generations more
inherit the rage
the legacy of our wars

postscript: on the 13th of june 2009 allafrica.com reported that 84 child soldiers were released to unicef. at that point, 555 child soldiers had been turned over to unicef since 2007. this is 555 out of thousands of children abducted and turned into soldiers…